Visual Aspects - Walking in the Royal National Park

YOURZ

You know, sometimes I need to be reminded how bloody lucky I am to live where I do.  Our recent trip to Royal National Park was one such time.

At Mine's behest, I went to a great website called Wildwalks and printed out a handy guide to what's known as the Bundeena To Marley walk.  According to the guide, the walk is about 9.5 km and would take us about 3 1/2 hours and rated 'hard' but we were up for a physical challenge.  It also meant I could cross it off my list as I'd always wanted to go.

The park is about 30 km south of Sydney CBD.  It was first established as a park in 1879 and is the second oldest national park  In 2006, it was added to the Australian National Heritage list.  It is mainly coastal heath with belts of littoral rainforest where shallow valleys dip the walker down to the coast.  We followed easy instructions that led us to a dirt car park on a stretch of the Bundeena road.  

The track starts out on opposite side of the road.  Ducking under the natural gates of She-Oak, the path starts out very easily and leads the walker gently down to the first ridge.  Here, I indulged my love of panorama photography.

Royal National Park panorama

We heard rather than saw a few of the local birds but spotted a New Holland Honeyeater as it made its rounds of the Banksia and various heath flowers.  But apart from the occasional skink, the heat of the day was obviously keeping the local fauna under cover. Along the track, we saw some beautiful banksias, red gums, and numerous unknown flowers like these:

  

                                         

The next stop was Deer Pond, so named because at one time, Royal National Park had quite a few deer in it and this was one of their favourite drinking holes.  The cooling fresh water and lovely shady strip of sand made it a welcome stop for us too. 

Deer Pond

After a refreshing dip and a quick snack, it was onwards to the beach.

This part of the track was probably the hardest going.  We're reasonably fit but while we didn't struggle, we didn't talk much either.  The track led out on to a much larger fire break that switch backs down to the coast line.  It was more exposed and we really felt the heat but could also hear the ocean pounding in the distance.  The payoff came after some good hard slogging, with the heath opening up to views like this one.

Looking down to the coast

Not too long after, we dropped down the final part of the track, one way leading to Marley Beach, the other to Little Marley.  We went north to the big one, hoping to find some shade and a spot for a picnic.  Marley Beach, however, is quite exposed and the surf was huge and angry.  We headed back south to Little Marley.  Almost conversely, it has a nice overhanging low cliff at one end, which offered up a great shady spot to stop and have a break.  The sheltered little beach provided a picturesque backdrop too.

Little Marley Beach

After a bit of relaxing, it was time to get going back up although this was a little tougher, 'up' being the operative word and all.  We stopped again at what I've renamed the 'Yes, Dear' Pond, in tribute to Mine as its one of her favourite expressions.  After another cooling dip, we hit the final stretch back to the car park.  

I think we worked out the whole round trip took us 4 1/2 hours, but given we'd stopped along the way, this is hardly surprising.  What is surprising, however, is how beautiful the area is and how close it is to the city.  It is truly one of Sydney's hidden jewels and well worth a day out.  Next time, we'll do the overnight coast walk, okay Mine?  Mine?  Hello...

VERDICT: VITAL

MINE

For one reason and another, YourZ and I have decided this year to scrap our pricey gym membership and take more time exercising au natural. (No, you Philistines, not in the nude, in the open air!)  Thus, the desire to tramp around large parts of parkland.  It's also part of our desire to take in as much of  what Sydney has to offer as possible, as we've decided it's not going to be our forever-home.  When we have a free weekend (and with other commitments plus my moving shift schedule, these are rare) we plan to see what the many national Parks in our area have to offer.

I must admit, I didn't look too closely at this walk before YourZ suggested it, and if I'd noticed it was rated "hard" I might have protested.  But even though it tested us (I had sore calves and glutes for a couple of days) it was so worth it.  The scenery!  The wildlife! The beaches!  And all less than an hour from our front door!

I guess the main thing I found from this - apart from the fact that I want to do more, please - is that I've often driven past Royal National Park without actually seeing quite how big and wild and varied it is.  And while I'm sure the next walk will be somewhere else - Ku-Ring-Gai Chase or Lane Cove perhaps - I do hope we go back to it.  It's spectacular.

VERDICT: Vital